Quotes to Consider
“It’s strange how the things we want most in the world often end up being disappointing. Maybe that’s because we’ll never be very fulfilled by accomplishments. At best, the buzz lasts a couple days. What seems to matter most is how we spend our days every day. The work we dedicate ourselves to. The people we spend time with. It reminds us of an Annie Dillard quote: ‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.’ The good news is we get to decide.”
~ AJ Hochhalter, composer
“To me, retirement means doing nothing that is worthy of a salary, but doing so with greater purpose and import – precisely because money does not enter into it.”
~ Me
And of course:
Driving a truck camper suddenly makes the above a non-issue. Whew!
Strolling Amok 
Great quotes!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2018.
Thanks, and right back atcha, Jana!
I guess I must wish someone a Merry Christmas lest I risk banishment from civilized society. I wish Doug (I hope it’s ok to be so familiar) and all his band a wonderful Christmas and a healthy new year. Thank you for a year of your off the beaten path observations and cogitations. Looking forward to another.
As far as retirement my first seven years, until turning 62, were living off of savings and trying to squeak it out until SS so it was really just a long term spell of unemployment that was quite enjoyable. Now that SS has kicked in I feel like the poorest rich man in the country. I won’t know what to do iffin’ I live long enough to get medicare. Seven years with no income was a slog but 10 with no health insurance gives new meaning to whistling through the graveyard.
Well James, one has to be careful these days about offending others’ sensibilities with the word “Christmas”, you know. It’s considered exclusionary and in some locales, bordering on hate speech. “Merry” is too archaic and too heavily associated with “Christmas” to remain in use, so even though “Happy Holidays” risks needing a trigger warning for some due to unpleasant family memories, it is appropriately vague and carries with it opportunities for monetizing the annual celebration. 🙂 Enjoy all of your days, my friend.
As for familiarity, we’re all on a first name basis here, Mr. Brown! I can relate to your history, since I hit the road and lived off savings for a couple of years until I realized that the next two to SS retirement were not worth the wait to me, financially speaking. I suspected that I’d be unlikely to live the 10 years needed to get my savings cushion back (which actually panned out with the discovery of the aneurysm at Year 4), so I was pleased to take the modest cut in SS payments by retiring two years early. Medicare is fab. Without it, I’d simply be fading at an increasing pace and probably still unaware of the sudden end game a few years down the road. (A CT Scan is a financial back-breaker.) You will enjoy Medicare (which you sign up for a year early to keep your costs low and keep any supplement insurer from screening you out for pre-existing), especially if you can afford to add a Plan F supplement that pays for everything but Rx’s. A less expensive supplement will do if you’ve stayed healthy as a horse. I too am hoping you live long enough to sign up for Medicare! Until then, keep whistling!
Your philosophy sounds like my husband. He’s just as diligent as he ever was but it’s more fun now that it is voluntary.
I think I’ve spent the majority of my working life impatient to get to work, and the remainder having to take awhile to talk myself into getting out of bed to go to work. Circumstances of the situations. Yet as much as I liked the former, it doesn’t compare to having one’s own goals and deadlines in place of someone else’s. That “what would you do if money was no longer an issue?” thing really comes to the fore if it can be made to work. In my case, I begin gravitating toward those few things that make me lose all track of time because I’m “in the zone” while I’m doing them.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Doug!
I need to get caught up on your adventures. Hope you are well and happy.
Best wishes,
Mary
Welcome back, Mary! Insufferably well and happy, I must say. But, since I’ve settled in for the winter here, my adventures have been mostly financial! Ack!
Lol! When I got my new van I had a hard time finding it in the parking lot the first time I went out, and I started wondering! When I finally got my solar system rack up on the new van, I realized that is what has made it so easy to find my vehicle in any parking lot!
I was blessed in most of the regular jobs that I had all of my life. I had some great bosses. I won’t say that it went that well with the family business. Lol I do agree though, that having the time to do the projects that I want to work on, and having the goals that I have set for myself, has been the best thing that could happen to me out here in Travel Land. The wonderful thing is that even with some of the dreams I hope to see realized, that are, shall I say, outlandish? Unrealistic? Huge? Beyond me? At least, according to the rest of the world. They just don’t understand. It is not, necessarily, reaching that goal or realizing that dream, that is important. It is the people’s lives, that you touch, as you strive to reach that goal. The changes I see in myself, as I continue to stretch my own boundaries. The joy of helping someone else along the way! It is the everyday things we do, on this journey, that have the greatest impact! 🙂
Well said, Rachel!
Wishing you a great 2018.
Same to you, fella!
I do like your take on retirement.
Working towards one’s one goals feels a lot more significant than working towards someone else’s. Probably because it is.
You are right. I many goals I’m working towards for myself.